Beginning a Weight Loss Program: Set your Goals
Since excess weight puts you at risk for many health problems, you may need to set some weight loss plans to help avoid those risks and prevent disease.
But what should be your long-term goal? And what short-term goals should you set to help you get there? The odds of success in your weight loss program are greater if it is reasonable and sensible from the start.
Here are some guidelines from the experts in choosing weight loss plans and goals.
1. Be realistic
Most people’s long-term weight loss plans are more ambitious than they have to be.
For example, if you weigh 170 pounds and your long-term plan is to weigh 120, even if you have not weighed 120 since you were 16 and now you are 45, that is not a realistic weight loss goal.
Your body mass index or BMI is a good indicator of whether or not you need to shed pounds. According to the NIH, the ideal BMI range is between 19 and 24.9. If your BMI is between 29 and 25.9, you are considered overweight. You’re technically defined as obese if your number is above 30.
From this point of view, you will need a sensible diet plan that will correspond to the required BMI based on your height, because this is the primary factor that will affect your BMI.
2. Set appropriate objectives
Using a weight loss plan just for vanity’s sake is psychologically less helpful than losing weight to improve health.
You have made a big step forward if you decide to start a diet that includes exercise and eating right so that you will feel better and have more energy to do something positive in your life.
3. Focus on doing, not losing
Rather than saying that you are going to lose a pound this week, say how much you are going to exercise this week. This would definitely be a sensible weight loss plan.
Keep in mind that your weight within a span of a week is not completely in your control, but your behavior is.
4. Build bit by bit
Short-term weight loss plans should not be “pie-in-the-sky.If you’ve never exercised before, you should start your weight loss program by planning three different one-mile walks next week.
5. Keep up the self-encouragement
An all-or-nothing attitude only sets you up to fail. Be fair and objective when you evaluate your efforts. If you miss some of your goals, just set new ones for the following week. You do not need to have a perfect record.
After all, self-encouragement should definitely be a part of your weight loss program. Otherwise, you will just fail in the end.
6. Use measureable goals
Saying that you are going to be more positive this week or that you are going to really get serious this week is not a goal that you can measure and should not be a part of your weight reduction program.
This is another reason why you should incorporate exercise into your diet and focus on it. You need to monitor the total minutes you exercise to be successful in your plan.
The bottom line is, people should make weight loss programs that will only remain just a plan. They have to set goals that will motivate them to succeed.
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Posted
on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Cooking.
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